Pure Benchmarks · Comparison
Robo-Advisor Fees and Minimums Compared for 2026
Short answer
The robo-advisors with no advisory fee, Ally Invest Robo Portfolios on its cash-enhanced option and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios, both require part of the portfolio to sit in cash, so the cost shows up as lower invested return instead of a fee. Among services that charge a fee, Vanguard Digital Advisor at 0.20% gross for its all-index option, Betterment Digital at 0.25% from $24,000, Ally’s market-focused option at 0.30% and Fidelity Go at 0.35% from $25,000 sit close together. Advisor-led services are a different price tier, with Edelman Financial Engines charging 1.75% on the first $400,000.
Robo-advisor fees look simple until you compare them side by side. Some services charge a percentage of assets, some charge a flat monthly amount, some charge nothing and hold part of your money in cash instead, and every one of them sits on top of the expense ratios of the funds inside the account. This page puts the published fees, minimums and cash rules for the main US services in one table, then explains which costs the table shows and which ones it cannot.
Robo-advisor fees, minimums and cash rules
| Service | Advisory fee | Minimum | Cash rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ally Invest Robo Portfolios, cash-enhanced | None | $100 | About 30% held in cash |
| Ally Invest Robo Portfolios, market-focused | 0.30% a year | $100 | Small cash position |
| Schwab Intelligent Portfolios | None | $5,000 | Required cash at Schwab Bank, sized by risk profile |
| Vanguard Digital Advisor | 0.20% gross all-index, 0.25% blend, less a fund-revenue credit | $100 | — |
| Betterment Digital | $5 a month, or 0.25% a year from $24,000 or $200+ monthly deposits | — | None required |
| Betterment Premium | 0.65% a year | $100,000 | None required |
| Fidelity Go | $0 under $25,000, then 0.35% a year | $0 to open, invests from $10 | — |
| Fidelity Managed FidFolios | 0.40% direct indexing, 0.70% active | $5,000 per strategy before investing | — |
| Edelman Financial Engines (advisor-led) | 1.75% on the first $400,000, lower tiers above | No single published minimum | — |
Fees read from each provider’s own site or Form ADV brochure in October 2026. A dash means the figure is not published on the provider’s own pages and was not verified. Fund expense ratios are charged on top of every advisory fee shown.
A no-fee robo-advisor still has a cost
Ally’s cash-enhanced option and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charge no advisory fee, and both require a cash allocation. Ally targets about 30% of the cash-enhanced account in cash. Schwab sizes the cash allocation by risk profile and holds it at Schwab Bank, and states that what it earns on that cash is part of why it charges no fee. Cash is not free to hold in a long-term portfolio: the share sitting in cash does not earn what the invested share earns over time, and that gap is the real price of the no-fee option.
Flat fees cost more on small balances
Betterment Digital charges $5 a month until the balance reaches $24,000 or recurring deposits reach $200 a month, after which it charges 0.25% a year. On a $5,000 balance, $60 a year is 1.2% of the account, far more than the percentage rate a larger balance pays. Fidelity Go takes the opposite approach and charges nothing under $25,000, then 0.35% a year above it. Which one is cheaper depends almost entirely on your balance.
Every advisory fee sits on top of fund expenses
The fees in the table pay for the management service. The funds inside the account carry their own expense ratios, which are charged in addition. Vanguard Digital Advisor is the one service here that explicitly reduces its gross fee with a credit for fund revenue Vanguard already earns, so its net fee is lower than the published gross rate and varies by portfolio. Fidelity Managed FidFolios also credits Fidelity fund revenue against its fee.
Advisor-led services are a different price tier
Adding a human advisor changes the cost by a multiple, not a margin. Betterment Premium charges 0.65% a year with a $100,000 minimum for access to certified financial planners. Edelman Financial Engines charges 1.75% a year on the first $400,000, which is $7,000 a year on a $400,000 account, falling to 1.25% and then 1.00% on the next tiers. The question for these services is whether the planning and management earn back the difference over time.
What a fee table cannot tell you
Fees are known in advance. Results are not. Two services with identical fees can produce very different outcomes because of the risk level chosen, the cash held, when money went in and how the portfolio was changed. The fee is one input. The outcome is whether your account kept pace with investors taking the same risk. Pure Benchmarks, our own product, connects robo-advisor accounts and ranks them against verified investor portfolios in the same risk category, which measures the result the fee table leaves out.
Your current platform won't show you how your portfolio ranks against real investors in the same risk category. Create your secure Pure Benchmarks account and see exactly where you stand.
See Your Free Benchmark ReportFrequently asked questions
Which robo-advisor has the lowest fees?
On advisory fees alone, Ally’s cash-enhanced option and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charge nothing, and Fidelity Go charges nothing under $25,000. The first two require a cash allocation, which lowers invested return. Among percentage fees on larger balances, Vanguard Digital Advisor’s 0.20% gross all-index rate, reduced by a fund-revenue credit, and Betterment Digital’s 0.25% are among the lowest of the services compared here.
Is a no-fee robo-advisor really free?
Not entirely. The no-fee options from Ally and Schwab require part of the account to be held in cash, and the provider earns on that cash. You also pay the expense ratios of the ETFs held. The cost is real even though it is not billed as an advisory fee.
How much does Betterment cost compared with Vanguard Digital Advisor?
Betterment Digital costs $5 a month, or 0.25% a year once the balance reaches $24,000 or deposits reach $200 a month. Vanguard Digital Advisor charges a gross 0.20% a year for its all-index option and 0.25% for its active and index blend, reduced by a credit for fund revenue Vanguard earns. Betterment Premium, with access to planners, costs 0.65% a year.
Is Schwab Intelligent Portfolios Premium still available?
No. Schwab has discontinued Premium, which added planning for a separate fee. The base Schwab Intelligent Portfolios service, with no advisory fee and a required cash allocation, continues.
Do robo-advisor fees include fund expense ratios?
No. The advisory fee pays for the management service, and the expense ratios of the funds inside the portfolio are charged in addition. Compare the two together when judging what a service costs.
How were these fees checked?
Each figure was read from the provider’s own website or Form ADV brochure in October 2026. Where a provider does not publish a figure on its own pages, the table shows a dash rather than an estimate. Providers change fees, so confirm the current schedule on the provider’s site.
Keep exploring
- Is My Robo-Advisor Doing a Good Job? How to Check
- How Do I Compare Robo-Advisor Returns and Performance?
- Is Your Financial Advisor Worth the Fee?
- How Much Is Holding Cash in My Portfolio Costing Me?
- Should You Leave Your Financial Advisor?
- Vanguard Digital Advisor vs a Target Retirement Fund: What the Extra Fee Buys
See how real portfolios at a specific firm rank against everyone else:
New here? Read the portfolio benchmarking FAQ or the Pure Benchmarks blog.
This page is an information baseline for comparison only. It is not investment advice and not a recommendation to buy, sell, replace, or transfer any specific asset, account, or firm. Past performance does not guarantee future results. All figures shown are illustrative.